St. Landry democrat., 1887-10-01
ia morose. It ia DESPAIR, It Is black

ness of darkness. 1t is woe unending
and long reverberating, and crushing
as though all the mountains of all con-
| tinents rolled on him in one avalanche
NV soul, stand back from such fun.
Young man, there is no fun in ship
wrecking your characterize tun IN as
grazing your fathers name. There Is
no fun in breaking your mothers heart:
There is no fun in the physical pangs OF
the dissolute. There is no fun in the
profigate's deathbed. There is no fun
| in an undone eternity. Paracelsus, out
| of the ashes of a burnt rose, said ne
could re-create the rose, but he failed in
the alchemic undertaking, and roseate
| life once burned down in sin can never
again be made to blossom.
Oh, this plumb line of the everlasting
right! God will throw it over all our
lives to show us our moral reflections.
God will throw it over all churches to
show whether they are doing useful
work or are standing instances OF idle
ness and pretense. He will throw that
plumb line over all nations to demon
strate whether their laws are just or
cruel, their rulers good or bad, their am
billions holy or Infamous. He threw
that plumb line over the Spanish mon
archy of other days, and what became of
her? Ask the splintered hulks of her
overthrown Armada He threw that
plumb line over French imperialism,
and what was the result? Ask the ruins
of the Tuieries, and the fallen column
of the Place Vendome, and the grave
trenches of Sedan, and the blood of rev.
olutions Indifferent times rolling through
the Champs Elysees He threw that
plumb line over ancient Rome, and what
became of the realm of the Caesars Ask
her war-eagles, with beak dulled and
wings broken, flung helpless into the
Tiber. He threw it over the Assy-
rian empire of thousand years, the
thrones of Semiramis and Sardana-
palus, and Shalmaneser, of twenty
seven victorious expeditions, the
cities of Phpnicia kneeling to the sceptre,
and all the world blanched in the pres
ence. What became of all the grandeur ?
Ask the fallen palaces of Khorsabad and
the corpses of her one hundred and eighty
five thousand soldiery slain by the angel
of the Lord in one night, and the AS
syrian sculptures of the worlds museums,
all now remains of that splendor
before that which nations staggered
and crouched God is now throwing
that plumb line over this American
republic, and it is a solemn time with
this nation, and whether we keep His
Sabbaths or dishonor them, whether
righteousness or iniquity dominate,
whether we are Christian or intidel,
whether we fulfill our mission or refuse
it, whether we are for God or against
Him, We'll decide whether we shall as a
nation go on in higher and higher career
or go down in the same grave where
Babylon, and Nineveh, and Thebes, and
Assyria are sepulchred.
But" say you, eff there be nothing
but plumb line what can any of us do,
for there is an old proverb which truth
fully declares: If the best mans faults
were written on his forehead it would
make him pull his hat over his eyes
What shall we do when, according to
Isaiah, God shall lay judgment to the
line and righteousness to the plummet?'"
All, here is where the Gospel comes in
with a Saviour's righteousness to
make up for our deficits. And while
/ see hanging on the wall a plumb
line, see also hanging there a cross.
And while the one condemns us the
other saves us, if only we will hold
to it. Oh sick, and diseased, and
SHINING, and dying nearer, why go
trudging all the world over, and seek
ing here and there relief for your
discouraged spirit, when close by, and at
your very feet, and at the door of your
heart, aye, within the very estate of your
own consciousness, the healing waters of
eternal life may be had, and had this
very hour, this very minute, this very
Sabbath! Blessed be God that over
against the plumb line that Amos saw is
the cross, through the emancipating
power of which you and may live and
live forever!